To improve external company culture perception in the marketplace; here are our suggestions:

Social media: An obvious and much talked about starting point. Have a company Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn page. 180 Resource Solutions will often run exclusive campaigns for clients, and go to mention and link their company name, but the company page does not exist! Use these pages to gain exposure, show the world what you are doing, and what a great culture you have. Give them an inside view of what is going on, through links, videos, pictures etc. This can be measured by number of total followers, likes, shares etc.

Appoint brand ambassadors: These could be innovative (not necessarily young!) employees, active on social media and in the modern jobseeker marketplace. Use them on videos explaining why they work there and what they enjoy. This is key information for any recruitment campaign, I once walked into a small business and met the owner in the middle of the general office space with his workers sitting around us, so I asked one what he liked about working there and he actually couldn’t come up with an answer! This makes it difficult for me to then sell the company benefits to future candidates…in fact, nearly impossible!

Do things a bit differently: I had a tour of the new Trademe offices recently and there were slides, fake grass, an internal caravan, stand up desks, pool tables, tap beer and the list goes on. Even if some of those things might not actually present a physical improvement or benefit, it gets people talking and it gives Trademe a point of difference. It might even get you on the news. The slides were apparently a legacy from Sam Morgan’s first multi-level office. What’s your signature point of difference?

Create a community: Your corporate community consists of so much more than just your employees. Think partners, family, suppliers, customers, consultants, sub-contractors, clients, regulators, contractors, temps, past employees. Use this community to spread your message and communicate with the world. There are some great free internal Facebook like community websites which could be used to utilise this group and grow it.

Blogging: Get your employees or anyone from your corporate community to start blogging about …. well …. anything. Another great medium for showcasing to the world what your company is all about – because everyone knows the company is about the people. So, get started!

Start creating a public culture profile.